Pipe wrapping machine



Sept 13, 193.2 s. Rosi-:NER

PIPE WRPPING MACHINE Filed lay 21, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 EZHND ROSE/YE?m j@ H/S ATTQENEK Sept. 13, 1932. L. s. Rosi-:NER

PIPE WRAPPING MACH'INE Filed May 21, 1928 S'Sheets-Sheet 3 m m Y e v. mE w sf e* vp o NN w /H L u s H SM1 NQ n u: #Q i.: n HHM MS PatentedSept. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEv LELAND S. ROSEN ER, OF SANFRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PARAFFINE l COMPANIES, INC., OFSAN FRANCISCO,

WARE

CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF DELA- PIPE WRAPPING- MACHINE Applicationled May 21,

My invention relates to machines for winding strips of covering materialabout pipes or conduits before they are laid, and particularly tomachines in which thestrips are covered with hot iluid as the wrappingtakes place.

An object of this invention is to provide a machine which will wrap pipeof large size and at high s eed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pipe wrapping machineoccupying a floor space but little longer, than the pipe to be wrapped.

Another object of this invention is to provide a machine which willproduce a smooth and uniform wrapping with a minimum quantity ofwrapping material.

My invention possesses other objects and valuable features, some ofwhich will be set forth in the following description of my inventionwhich is illustrated in the drawings forming part of the specification.It is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the showing` madeby the said description and drawings, as l may adopt varying forms of myinvention within the scope of the claims.

Referring to the drawings: A

Fig. l is a plan and Fig. 2 is a front clevation of a pipe wrappingmachine embodying' the invention. Certain parts are omitted in Figure 2for the sake of clarity.

Fig. 3 is an end view on a somewhat larger scale, partly in elevationand partly in section. The plane of section is indicated by the line 3 3of Fig. l.

Broadly considered the invention coniprises means for supporting androtating the pipe to be wrapped. Parallel to the pipel is a track, onwhich runs a carriage supporting a tank adapted to hold a saturantliuid. The tank is adjustable about a vertical axis on the carriage andcarries with it means for supporting a roll of wrapping material andfeeding it through the tank and onto the pipe. Common driving meansrotates the pipe and moves the carriage longitudinally thereof, and thespeed ratio of these two motions is nicely adjustable to conform withthe width 1928. Serial No. 279,426.

of the wrapping material and the angular adjustment of the roll-holdingmeans.

In more detailed terms, a preferred ein-- bodiment of this inventioncomprises a frame, the foundation of which is the transverse I-beams 6.Supported upon one end of these beams are other I-beams 7, shorter andwith wider webs than the first, and parallel thereto. These in turnsupport a pair of longitudinal beams 8 which form the bed of the machineTransverse to the bed are secured two pairs of brackets. The first pairor" brackets, 1l and l2, at the head or driving end of the machinesupport bearings 13 and la in which the spindle 16 is journaled. Gearwheels 17, 18 and 19 are fixed for rotation with the spindle, as is alarge conical center 21 for driving the pipe to be wrapped.

A jack-shaft 22 is journaled in the bearings 23 carried by the brackets11 and l2. Splined to the shaft is a spool gear 24 which may be slidalong the shaft to mesh with either of the three spindle gears. Thespool gear is held in mesh by the spring latch 26, which seats .inrecesses in the shaft, in accordance with well known practice. The largegear 27 is keyed to the end ofthe jack-sha:tt.

Meshing with the gear 27 to drive the jat-.kshaft is a pinion 3l, keyedto the drive shaft 32 which is j ournaled below the jack-shaft in thebearings 33. The drive shaft carries two sprockets. The sprocket 34 .isfixed for rotation with the shattand drives the tank can riage. vThesprocket 86 turns on the shaft, with which it may be operativelyconnected by the clutch 37. rfhe sprocket 'taires its drive from a chain88 which gears to the prime mover, conveniently a gas engine 39 mountedon extensions of two et the I-beams 6.

The shifter-yoke 42 for operating the clutch 37' is mounted on a stubshaft i3 se cured to the Lbeam 8, and is moved by means of a beveledsector la meshing with a pinion i6 on the end of a longitudinal shaft47. The shaft l? is supported in bearings 48 secured to the I-beam 8.Levers 49 are lined to the shaft at convenient operating,` points.

At the other ot' the Lbeams 8, the tail i Sii stock 61, comprising thesecond pair of brackets above mentioned, is mounted on rollers 62 whichengage the fianges of the beams. The dogs 63 clamp the tail-stock to theflanges at any desired point. Movable in the tail-stock co-axially withthe head spindle is a threaded tail spindle 64, splined to preventrotation and adjustable by means of a long nut 66 turned by a hand wheel67 A conical center 68 carried by the tail spindle turns on a thrustbearing 69.

Parallel with the I-beams 8 another pair of I-beams 71 resting on thefoundation beams 6 carry the rails 72 on which the carriage travels. Thecarriage comprises a. rectangular framework built up of channels 76. Thelongitudinal members of the framework are double, the channels being setback to back and spaced to encompass the Hanged wheels 77 which arejournaled on the pins 78. The framework carries a platform 79 on whichare mounted the saturating tank 81 and the burner equipment for heatingit.

The tank is rectangular' and rests upon a second channel frame 82. Thisframe carries a short vertical shaft 83 engaging a pivot bearing 81mounted centrally of the platform l 79. Rbllers 86 turning on the pins87 carry the greater part of the weight on the frame. The frame carriesa gear sector 88 which meshes with a pinion 89 turned by a hand Wheel 91for adjusting the angular setting of the tank on the platform. Suitableclamping means, such as the clamp-screw working through the arcuate slot93 in the gear sector holds the tank in its adjusted position.

Oil torches 96 are supplied from a fuel tank 97 mounted on the platform79. These torches play into U-shaped tire tubes 98 opening through theside of the tank, and keep the saturant material hot and fluid.

Mounted on the outer end of the tank is a pair of brackets 101 carryingopen bearings 102 and 103 for shafts 104 support-ing the rolls ofwrapping material 106.. Between the rolls and the. tank the bracketscarrying bearingsl in which are journaied a ten-- sioning device. Thiscomprises a pair of rollers 108 and 109 mounted between and at each endof a pair of short levers 110. The two short shafts 111 on which thetension pivots extend outwardly from the center of these levers throughthe bearings 107, and on the end of one of the shafts is secured aYlever arm 112 carrying a movable weight 113 by means' of which thetension may be adjusted.

The wrapping material is passed from its roll under the roller 108 andover the roller 50 109. Tension on the strip of material forces roller108 down and roller 109 'up` thereby raising the weight 113. Thisstraightens the path of the strip and decreases the tension, theforcesrapidly reaching an equilibrium 55 value where the lfensionremains constant.

The device prevents sudden jerks on the heavy roll which might break thestrip.

From the tension device the strip is passed over a roller 116 j ournaledin the bearings 117 and extending across the tank. The strip next passesdown into the Huid in the tank and under a heavy roller 118. The roller118 is journaled between a pair of lever arms 119 pivoted within thesides of the tank. The Weight of the roller and the tension on the stripboth serve to keep these levers normally hanging in a Vertical position,but each lever is provided with eyed lugs 121 which may be engaged by ahook and the lever drawn up to the position shown by the dotted linesfor threading the wrapping strip beneath it.

The strip next passes up out of the tank and over a roller 122 journaledin a pair of brackets 123 slidably mounted on upright-s 124 secured toeach side of the tank. A screw 126 turned by a hand wheel 127 is used toadjust the height of each bracket on the uprights, to feed the wrappingstrip horizontally onto Whatever diameter pipe is being wrapped.

h'ieans are provided for moving the carriage along the track at a speedhaving a predetermined ratio to the rotational speed of the pipe. A.chain 131 is attached by shackles 132 tc each end of the carriage. Atthe tail end of the machine the chain passes over an idle sprocket 133journaled in the brackets 134 mouiited on the -beam 6. At thc head endit passes over a driving sprocket 136. i

The sprocket 136 is 'driven from the sprocket 34 on the drive shaftthrough suitn able speed-change and reversing mechanism which aremounted on a framework 1157 at the head end of the I-beam 71. A chain138 passes from the sprocket 3/1 over a. sprocket 139 driving thespeed-change gear 140. This is preferably a Reeves drive, but it may beany speed changing device in which the speed ratio is adjustable bycontinuous grada tions, The driven shaft 141 of the Reeves drive carriesa sprocket 142 and a gear 143.

ne sprocket drives a chain 1411 and thence a larger sprocket 146 turningon a shaft 147 journaled in bearings 148 on the framework 137. The gear143 meshes with a gear 149 on a short countershaft 151 also journaled onthe frame 137. A sprocket 152 on the countershaft drives a similar sizedsprocket 153 turniing on the shaft 1117.

l Either of the sprockets 146 or 153 may be fixed for rotation with theshaft- 147 by means of the double clutches 154 and 155 operated by theshift lever 156. rlhe shift lever is provided with a sector 157 andlatch 158 to prevent accidental throwing of the clutches. The shaft maythus be rotated either forwardly, or backwardly at a higher speed, bymoving the lever 156 te enga-,ge one or the other of the clutches. Onthe end of the shaft 147 is keyed a bevel pinion 161 which mesheswit-hagcar 162 on the transverse shaft 163, to which the sprocket 136,

for driving the carriage, is keyed.

Between the tracks 72 on which the car` riage runs, and the wrappingmachine bed, is a platform or runway 166 supported on brackets 167.Thefrunway is useful to the operator watching the laying of the wrappingand especially in starting the wrapping of the pipe.

The method of operation of the machine may easily be appreciated. Thepipe is placed between the centers and the tail spindle advanced to holdthe pipe firmly and give a positive drive through its friction with thehead center'. The proper speed for the size of pipe is selected by meansof the sliding spool gear 24. The wrapping is started with the carriageat the head end of the machine, and the proper ratio of carriage speedto rotational speed is set. It is here that lthe advantage of acontinuous gradation of speed change becomes apparent, for.- there mustusually be a slight lapping of the wrapping material, and if thecarriage' speed be too great the material will not lap while too slow acarriage speed involves a large waste of material. A further advantageof this drive is that the speed ratio may be adjusted while themachine-is in operation to compensate for irregularities in the windingstrip or for inaccuracy in calculating the required degree of lap.

The angle of the tank is adjusted so that the wrapping strip leaves thefeed rollers to cling to the pipe tightly and without wrinkles.

Clutch 154 is then engaged to move the carriage forward, and theoperator then' moves lever 49 to start the winding process. When it iscomplete the wrapping strip is cut, the lever 156 is thrown to returnthe carriage to the head end of the machine and the operation isrepeated. The adjustments of speed and tank angle of course remain thesame as long as the size of pipe and width of wrapping strip remainconstant.

The machine may be used for pipes of large or small diameter, since thecarriage is at one side of the bed of the machine and is, therefore,outl of the way when the largest size of pipe the machine will swing isbeing handled.

I claim 1. A pipe wrapping machine comprising means for supporting androtating a pipe, a track parallel to the rotational axis of said pipe, acarriage movable along said track, a tank adapted to hold a fluid andmovable about a vertical axis on said carriage, a gear sector fixed tosaid tank, a pinion meshing with said sector, means for rotating saidpinion to adjust the angular position of the my hand.

LELAND S. ROSENER.

Lca

i 1CD

